Synopsis

This paper reviews the developments from 1962 when the LCD was first proposed within RCA, to 1988, when Sharp demonstrated a 14-inch, full-color, full-motion display, launching the LCD TV industry. The article then describes the progress made in the last 25 years, such as VA and IPS operation modes, LED back lighting, terminally fluorinated liquid-crystals, and more efficient manufacturing technology for ever-larger displays.

Liquid-crystal displays (LCD) comprise a unique blend of chemistry, physics, and engineering that required the efforts of researchers around the world. They were conceived in 1962 at RCA Laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey, and RCA demonstrated them publicly in 1968. Two years later the twisted-nematic mode of operation was invented in Switzerland and Ohio, and in 1972 UK researchers synthesized cyanobiphenyl liquid crystals. Together these inventions enabled the commercialization of LCDs. During the 1970s and early 1980s manufacturers supplied small LCDs for portable products such as digital watches and pocket calculators.

Development of larger and more colorful displays proceeded incrementally until 1988. Then Sharp Corporation made a significant advance, demonstrating a 14-inch, full-color, full-motion display using an active-matrix TFT (thin-film-transistor) array. Observing this, Japanese leaders of the display industry were convinced that LCDs would replace CRTs, and committed to making LCDs a major industry in Japan. Large-scale displays were first supplied for personal computers and then to television receivers. In the second half of 1990s, the industry started migrating to Korea and Taiwan as researchers developed techniques to improve the display and manufacture of LCDs of increasing dimensions. In 2005, the LCD industry surpassed the CRT industry in production volume and in 2011 achieved a production value over 100 billion dollars. The technology’s growth has had numerous social and cultural effects, easing the acceptance of cell and smart phones, enabling the development of portable computers, and changing the design of homes as the panel TV replaced the traditional television receiver box.

About the Author(s)

Hirohisa Kawamoto (S’69–M’70–SM’83–F’92–LF’04) received his B.S. from Kyoto University and the Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. He worked for Panasonic, RCA Laboratories, Sony America, and Sharp, and has served on the faculty at Berkeley and Nara Institute of Science and Technology. Kawamoto was the chair of the first steering committee of IEEE Journal of Display Technology in 2005 and Japanese delegate to the Electro-Technical Commission in Geneva. Founder of the Princeton Community Japanese Language School, he is now vice president of the Plant High-Technology Institute in Nara. Kawamoto has received the IEEE Centennial and Third Millennium Medals.